Encounters with a Knight
by AuRenzo
Summary: Seiftis - A series of events where Quistis encounters Seifer during the game and after. Will this growing relationship conquer it all? Please read and review. CHAPTER 2 UP
1. So we meet again

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!!! ATTENTION !!! I'm looking for a beta reader for my fics. If interested, email me at kebon4 (at) hotmail (dot) com. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8 or any characters used in this fan fiction. But, I do own original characters and well as my imagination.

Author's Notes: Hello guys! It's nice to be back with my newest fanfic here to hit the net. Please do enjoy this fic and maybe drop a line or two at the review section? This will be hopefully a weekly update, but don't expect one every week. Well on with the show, folks! BTW, I kind of altered the last moments of the game so don't be confused.

**Encounters with a Knight**

By: Aurenzo

_"So... we meet again."_

* * *

The unknown Sorceress casted some sort of spell. It blinded the whole room and made her body numb. Quistis was forcefully kneeled on the floor of the Timber Broadcast studio. The mysterious woman was talking to Seifer. The blonde couldn't hear, as if sound had completely ringed trough her ears. 'Seifer, please, don't go with her!' Quistis pleaded in her mind.

The emerald eyed man could not read Quistis' thoughts. The woman was luring him to a paradise, a place of glory, his dream. Could he resist? Not a chance. He went along with her through the black depths of the portal. If he only knew what would happen to him in the future.

Quistis pleaded all she could, but there was no chance. This may be the last time she saw him, she lost another student. She failed as an instructor and failed her student from then on.

There was a white flash of blinding light. Seifer was gone, she was mobile and she could see the rest of her ex-students and the young woman who was at the SeeD inauguration ball.

She paused for a while. Her thoughts were with Seifer silently pleading to Hyne that he would be alright. She last reminisced her and him during the wait in the Balamb-Timber train cabin.

**! Flashback !**

Quistis sighed at the recent incident with her and Seifer, they sprinted through the halls of Balamb Garden. He injured so many and now, she was stuck with him hitching a ride to Timber.

Seifer had been awfully quiet when they sneaked into one of the cabins in the train. She knew he was infuriated after learning what Puberty Boy, Chickenwuss and Messenger girl were doing with Rinoa's mission.

He mentally swore for not making SeeD this time. It was his chance to help Rinoa when he was SeeD, but they sent Puberty Boy to go with Rinoa. He turned around to look at his instructor.

"You didn't have to come, you know." Seifer killed the silence. Quistis looked up ready to reply to his statement. "I chose to come." Seifer smirked. Looking down again, her eyes showed sorrow and misery.

"What happened to the straight posture with a stick up her ass look?" Seifer bitterly shot at her. Quistis chose not to answer that question. Instead, she drooped even lower. The tresses of blonde hair nearly covered her face and covering the brimming tears ready to fall down like a waterfall.

The blonde held back her tears as much as she could. Her icy walls were ready to crack right there for Seifer's amusement. Quistis hastily wiped away the tears before Seifer could notice. She thought he turned around, not facing her but Seifer saw the whole thing.

Not saying anything, he abruptly sat down across from her, forgetting what happened recently, he tried to sleep. He opened one eye to look at Quistis. He didn't notice, but she looked like mess. Single tresses of hair shot out at every possible angle. Her eyes were red and puffy with dark circles around it. She tried so hard to cover them with her glasses but only partially covered them.

Quistis was looking out the window; her eyes were blank as if all the sparkle had died out. She was a total mess.

"You okay?" The blonde asked with a slight concern in his tone. Silence. "Quistis? What's wrong with you?" This time his tone was in serious concern. Still silence. The female blonde struggled to hold back her tears.

Seifer was screaming at her at the top of his lungs asking her if she was alright or okay. He was replied with an eerie silence. Quistis was not herself, as if her soul had been banished to move the fragile body of hers.

Seifer stood up and walked to her seat. He grasped her shoulders and shook them to the extent to wake her up from her blank stare. In doing so, Seifer's face turned from angry to concern. His strong, pride-filled instructor was frail as a leaf, her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks were drenched in her salty tears and her lip was quivering.

Seifer was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say. This time, he didn't let his mouth do the work. He followed his heart's instincts and gently wrapped his strong arms around her, giving her the only comfort he knew how to give.

Quistis' mind was racing at a thousand miles a second. The arrogant cocky student of hers was hugging her. She silently wept on his chest taking out all the emotions that were kept on the inside. No words were needed. There in the train cabin, actions spoke louder than words.

**! End of Flashback !**

When Quistis ended the reminisced memory of Seifer back in the train cabin, a part of Quistis broke down and worried for Seifer. Quickly erasing the thought, she ran for the door right behind the girl Squall danced with at the inauguration ball.

* * *

Inside the dark walls of Ultimecia's manor, the gang sought to find the Ultimecia and destroy her with all they got. They needed to save the world from this mad woman. Every one split up into parties, Squall, Rinoa, and Irvine was one team and that left Selphie, Zell and Quistis as the other party.

But it seemed that Quistis found herself nowhere near the bubbly and energetic duo. She must've stumbled into a room. She dusted away invisible dust from her peach battle gear outfit and found herself in some sort of an open area, it sort of looked like Balamb Garden's ballroom only a bit dingier, dark and definitely a lot of cobwebs. It had a gothic sort of feel and it sent shivers into the blonde's spine.

Wishing Selphie, Zell or anyone would be here, she became suddenly frightened. She sat on the floor shivering and placing her body into a fetal position, trying to calm herself. She felt a very chilly breeze past through her and her insides turned upside down. Her sight became blurry and soon enough she was drifted off to sleep.

Footsteps were heard in the ballroom type of area. It echoed through the entire place making you feel very alone. Seifer's hands went right down to the side of his body after casting a sleep spell on Quistis. He smirked, and bent down to examine her.

He brushed away a lone strand of hair and quickly picked her up and placed her unconscious self on his shoulder. Hyperion with one hand and his instructor on the other, Seifer walked through the double iron doors to one of the castle quarters.

His eyes gleamed with an aura of evil. The young arrogant and cocky man that once stepped a foot on Balamb Garden grounds, was now the evil sorceress' knight. After the fiasco with Squall and his dogs during the Lunatic Pandora incident, Seifer was quickly teleported back into his Sorceress.

Seifer entered one of the many quarters of Ulitimecia's manor. He laid Quistis Trepe on the soft crimson silk and feather filled pillows. She was still under the spell but would turn up sooner or later. He smirked, and then followed by locking the door behind him.

* * *

"Selph, I wonder where Quistis is?" Zell questioned his bubbly friend. "I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find her or Squall and tell him that we lost her. But for now, let's retrace our steps." Selphie offered. Echoes and eerie noises were heard and Selphie jumped right after hearing them.

Even though as SeeD, Selphie was afraid of a few things. She shuddered at the sight of the many creepy crawlers running along the think dark hardwood floors of the Castle. Silently squealing, she was fully alert in her surroundings, she didn't like them at all.

A second later, Zell and Selphie saw a glimpse of brow, grey and sky blue. _'The others!'_ Selphie jumped. Zell and Selphie ran up to Squall and the rest of the gang.

"Where's Quistis?" Squall asked. Selphie and Zell were frowning telling them that they somehow lost Quistis or Quistis ran off somewhere else. Squall froze after hearing what had happened. Who knew what might've happened to her.

* * *

The blonde fluttered her eyes, revealing the sapphire blue. Quistis found herself on a red silk bed. It was furnished with the finest oak furniture. It gave a gothic feel to the now shivering blonde.

Quistis wondered where she ended up. She remembered walking into a Ballroom or Hall. But she did remember a shivering breeze passing her. Her eyes widened, someone had casted a sleep spell on her and that caster must have been-

"Seifer" Quistis whispered.

She found him sleeping peacefully on the leather sofa. Hyperion was next to him as he silently slept in a deep slumber. Quistis looked at his face. There was no face that showed a sleeping child, but a face with pure sorrow.

She knelt beside the sleeping blonde. Her face showed pain. He had hurt them, especially _her_. She reminisced when he sided with the sorceress. Quistis struggled to break free from her statue like state but failed. Not only she failed from breaking out of her frozen body, she failed as an instructor, failed him.

Blue eyes were still on his face. Quistis smiled. He was back with her. Trembling fingers lightly caressed his chiseled face from his cheek bone over to his soft pink lips. Quistis had to admit that he was indeed handsome. But that thought quickly went away when his eyes start to flutter.

She quickly froze and then tried to do the next thing. She tried to stand up but failed miserably and she tripped on her own foot and collided her bottom with the hard wood floor.

His blurry vision cleared away and found an amusing sight in front of him. He found his good ol' instructor with flailing arms as she tumbled onto the floor. He stifled a laugh and covered it up with one of his mocking smirks.

She quickly fixed her disheveled image into a straight posture. She froze and saw Seifer's mocking gaze. She cleared her throat and grabbed her whip. Her whip was taken away from her. She glared at Seifer and readied a spell. But she found out that there weren't any and presumed that Seifer drew them all out of her.

Seifer stood high and mighty towering over Quistis. Quistis quickly tried to move out of his way and ran for the door. Frustrated, she tried to open the door knob but found it to be locked as well. She turned around and Seifer was still standing there.

"So... we meet again." Seifer whispered.

"Seifer..."

"Miss me?" Seifer mocked unsheathing his blade.

"Please... NO!" She pleaded, tears brimming up her eyes.

When Quistis' plea had reached the ears of Seifer, his terrifying gaze turned into a child's innocent feature. The villainous blade the blonde held had dropped into a string of clinks and clanks of noises. Knees trembled, a second passed and Seifer was on the floor. Gazing into his gloved hands, he could see invisible blood stains on them. His hands were tainted and couldn't be cleansed off.

"W-what have I d-done?" Seifer asked rhetorically.

His face had trembled and the blonde instructor picked up the heavy piece of metal that was called Hyperion and threw it out of Seifer's arms reach. The peach clad blonde knelt in front of Seifer. Frantically trying to help him out of his panic attack, Quistis had embraced Seifer's brawn body in order for him to cool down. As if Seifer was a baby, Quistis gently cooed and soothed him telling it was alright.

His quivering body and turned to normal and returned the one sided hug that his instructor was giving him. He sighed with relief and heartedly hugged her tighter as if she was his only last breath of air.

"I'm so sorry." Was all Seifer could whisper to her ear.

* * *

**Aurenzo's Notes:** So... how do you like it? Unfortunately, this won't be updated regularly. I update when I usually have time. If you'd like for me to continue this as soon as possible, I can make it a weekly update depending on the feedback I get.

Reviews, comments, and constructive criticism are welcomed and will be greatly appreciated.


	2. I'll find you

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Final Fantasy 8 or any characters used in this fan fiction.

**Author's Notes:** Another chapter is posted on ! Guys, I'd love to thank you a bunch for the reviews you've given in chapter one. I'm quite pleased that people still read my fics ). Well, here is chapter 2 of E.W.A.K.

**Encounters with a Knight**

By: Aurenzo

_"I'll find you..."_

Walking through the dingy halls of the manor, the rest of the gang had been searching for the lost instructor. They had been worried and troubled if Ultimecia had found her. The only sounds that were heard were the clicking of battle boots and soft inhales and exhales from the group's lungs. The castle had been eerily quiet and couldn't wait to get back to their time and finally have rest.

"This place creeps me out." Selphie shuddered. Irvine's arm happened to go around the miniscule girl's shoulders and gave her a seductive grin. Glaring, she slapped his hand away and smirked to find the cowboys pride-filled shoulders drooping after the slap. Zell wanted to stifle a little giggle but couldn't help but crack at Irvine's attempt to hit on Selphie.

But now was not the best time to do that. They had to beat a corrupted evil sorceress and find their blonde companion as well. Squall could feel a headache coming one but Rinoa melted it away with her heartfelt smiles. Squall couldn't help but smile back. Just a little bit.

The group found themselves in a big open area. It resembled the ballroom back then when Squall had first met Rinoa but a bit gothic and eerie. Squall spotted a hairclip in the middle of the ballroom. The little plastic invention suddenly jerked Squalls thoughts as he mentally panicked to discover it was Quistis'.

* * *

The embraced was cut off when Seifer looked at his instructor. He saw the cascade of blonde waterfalls covering the blonde's body. Her look brought back the youth in her face. He found it to be different from the crisp tight bun she had it back in Garden. 

"Hyne, I'm glad your back." Quistis' voice broke his reverie and was faced with reality. The masculine blonde feared that he might hurt them again. Seifer abruptly stood up and reached for the door. The only thing that was blocking his exit was Quistis' arm holding him back.

"Where are you going?"

"Y-you have to leave. I don't know if she'll control me again."

"But I don't want you to go!"

"If we ever get lost, I'll find you no matter where you are."

"But-"

"Please listen to me Quisty! Promise me that you'll let me leave and we'll find each other! But right now I have to let you go."

Seifer jerked his arm away from Quistis. His hand ascended from his side to the open air to summon a black portal just like the one Sorceress Edea had used back in the Timber Broadcasting station. Strong arms had embraced the blonde one last time and then Seifer lifted and brought her near the ebony pit of darkness. "Goodbye Quisty. See you later." That was all the Hyperion welder had said before pushing Quistis gently to the portal back to where he had found her, the Ballroom.

Just as the group was about to leave, a black mist had hovered over the heads of the mercenaries. Screams were heard as Quistis came out of no where and landed into the unexpected arms of Zell Dincht.

"Quistis?!" strings of shocked greetings came from the orphanage gang and Rinoa. Their shoulders were lifted with gladness and relief. Even Squall had broken his frozen mask to show that he as well cared for the short lost instructor. Now that the gang was back, they were going to finish the mission that – the soon to be heroes of Gaia – had started.

"What happened to you?" Squall questioned. Quistis struggled to keep a serious tone in her features. She didn't want to give her friends the distraught of discovering Seifer in the castle. "I apologize for wandering off. I must've gotten carried away and wandered out of the party." She lied. The Lionheart wielder didn't buy it but he shrugged it off signaling everybody to continue their quest.

A mild storm was brewing in the ebony sky. Clashes of white lightning roared as the fated children set foot on the roof of their destiny. Squall reminded to equip their guardian forces and have healing items and offensive magic ready in hand. They knew this battle won't be a simple task. When everything was in check, two leather gloves held the rusted handles on the dark doors.

As doors revealed what was inside, everybody was getting ready to fight the biggest battle of their lives.

"Ultimecia..." Squall glared while gritting through his teeth.

The black winged angel could only just smirk.

* * *

As white light engulfed the area, Quistis stumbled through the nothingness. Remembering what Selphie had said, her rapid beatings in the heart soon turned into a calm monotonous rhythm. Quistis paused as she reflected on her life and looked for a blissful piece of her memory to bring back to her time. 

... little Quisty entered the doors of the grotesque building called 'Garden' ...

... fingers trembling timidly at the first caress of the whip...

... her first sight of a familiar tall little boy with sandy blonde hair ...

... fighting along Xu on her very first mission ...

... soft hands handshaking with the callused hands of the Headmaster ...

... accepting her instructors license from the hands of Headmaster Cid ...

... grey cobalt eyes glaring at her ...

... spitting insulting remarks at the scarred blonde ...

... in the classroom with Seifer serving detention ...

... in the train car with Seifer ...

... feeling strong arms embrace her ...

... Seifer ...

* * *

In a cascade of grey with red crosses stitched on the arms, the man who owned it was covering his whole body with it. His teeth clattered as his feet were starting to go numb. Seifer grunted as he fell into the fresh cold snow. But anything was better than under the control of that crazy bitch he called Ultimecia. 

Seifer got out of arms reach from Ultimecia. Sneaking through on of the portals outside of the entrance of the castle, he had to choose the one with similar climate to Trabia. Mentally swearing, right now he could go for a hot cup of coffee or even one of Ifrit's limit breaks. His legs gave up and Seifer collapsed. His last though was of the woman who had forgiven him. 'Quistis...'

Frigid air entered her lungs as Quistis began to open her eyes. She squinted when the sun glistened of the frigid floor of ice. Confused, Quistis rubbed her body for body warmth trying to happen why she ended up in the frigid glaciers of what seemed to be Trabia.

Walking through the rough terrain of Trabia, Quistis searched for a town or even a village. Sighing, all she could see was an endless area of snow and ice. Minute by minutes, parts of her body started to feel numb. Breathing became difficult and her legs struggled to move step by step. How ironic that the 'Ice Queen' would die in an ice cold terrain. This made Quistis chuckle a bit.

But there was that last string of hope for Quistis to hang on. Using all her strength, she climbed up a small hill only to find a pile of tattered grey things in the middle of Quistis' viewing range. As a gust of wind blew in the objects' direction, the grey tattered cloth revealed a blonde man with a scar between his cat green eyes.

As if a massive amount of weight was lifted off her shoulders, Quistis used the newly found strength within her to reach the still body of the ex-knight of the second sorceress. Finally stumbling through the piles of snow, Quistis bent down to turn Seifer around. Using SeeD standard instructions on identifying a status of a downed mercenary, Quistis grabbed a pile to make a makeshift pillow for Seifer. Fingers slid across his neck to check a pulse. With a sigh of relief, she found that he was still breathing, lightly.

Quistis' previous panic attack soon turned a calm state. She had no clue what to do next. Seifer's chest had moved slightly. Fingers became numb as they succumbed into the temperatures of what may be Trabia. Failing to find a pulse due to her numb hands, she could maybe find a heart beat with her ears. Quistis lowered down to have her side of the face touch his leather covered toned chest.

The rhythm of Seifer's heartbeat was faint. Trembling, Quistis was afraid to see that Seifer could die. All these panicking thoughts soon were cut off when an arm had embraced the upper body of Quistis. Relief came over Quistis once again when she found that Seifer was alive and already trying to make body heat with his and hers.

Looking up, she found a huge smirk on his face. Blue eyes flared as she was tricked into thinking that he was dead. He knew all along that Quistis was right there. Opening an eye to reveal emerald orbs, he saw a flustered face probably from embarrassment or even anger. Seifer knew that it was the second choice and he winced to prepare for a verbal whiplash.

"Hmm... you feel so warm." Seifer closed his eyes with a smirk growing by the second. Quistis' face turned from an angry beet red into an embarrassing shade of dark pink.

At least he was safe.

* * *

**Aurenzo's Notes:** And there you have it! Chapter two is finished and I'm ready to sleep. Sorry to keep you waiting but here it is. I'm probably going to turn this fic into a humour later in the chapters. Previously, I wanted to have a dark and angst one but I couldn't help but have humour in here.

Once again, reviews are greatly appreciated and may be replied in the next chapter a/ns. Later days everyone!


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